


Better Now

by WhiskeyDix (Zibomotua)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Focuses on Kent's life in Vegas, LET MY TRASH SON BE HAPPY, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-18 16:45:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7322986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zibomotua/pseuds/WhiskeyDix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Kit Purrson was a nuisance to Kent’s teammates and the one time she wasn’t. A snapshot love story between Kent and Swoops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Now

**Author's Note:**

  * For [daydoodles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/daydoodles/gifts).



1.

 

The room is dark, blackout shades drawn closed. The only light comes from a crack between the hardwood floor and the door that leads out into the large empty house.

 

A cell phone rings with a familiar 8-bit ringtone. Kent had assigned it for himself the first time they had gone to a club together. It’s one of those pre programmed upbeat melodies and Kent wouldn't stop imitating it for the rest of that night.

 

Swain Cooper groans, rolling over in his bed to look at the clock on his nightstand. It’s 3 in the afternoon, Kent knows this is his post workout nap time. He extends his body to pick his phone up off the end table. “Kent.”

 

“Yo! Swoops! Come over! I just adopted the cutest kitten!”

 

Swoops just stares ahead at his wall, his bare torso hanging off the bed, unable to pull his phone any closer because of it’s short charging cable.

 

“Swoops? You there?!”

 

“You...adopted a kitten.” It's the tone Swoops reserves for disapproving Kent’s shenanigans.

 

“Yes. I’m glad your speaker is working right. Come over”

 

“Kent. It’s-Are you sure?” Swoops really has no idea where to begin with this kid. His foggy brain struggles to catch up with the current events.

 

“Fine, don’t come over!” Kent says in his customary tantrum voice, hanging up before Swoops can respond.

 

Swoops sets his phone down and rolls back onto his side, groaning for another minute before getting up to find a pair of jeans.

 

The ride over to Kent’s doesn't take long. Swoops lives in a large house outside of town, purposefully placed with the clearest route to the rink. Kent lives in a penthouse in one of the buildings surrounding the rink, therefore Swoops also has the fastest commute to Kent’s place.

 

Swoops pulls into the underground parking deck with the pass Kent gave him. He closes the door of his black Audi and wonders if he should have stopped to pick up treats or a toy or something.

 

The elevator ride to the top floor notoriously takes forever and Swoops is starting to feel the ache of not getting to finish his nap. Swoops waits for the elevator to close before opening the front door just in case the kitten would dash out. Kent just leaves it unlocked because he doesn’t understand the idea that someone would want to break into his place. Or he’s just arrogant, Swoops is still unsure on that one.

 

Swoops doesn’t know what he was expecting when he opened the door, but it sure wasn't Kent, lounging on his sectional, holding what looks like a hideous ball of skin.

 

It looked like Kent had taken a newborn baby and crumpled it up like a sheet of paper.

 

“Swoops, my pal!” Kent says enthusiastically.  The gross ball shifts at the sound of Kent’s voice to produce a wrinkly head with massive ears. The thing-cat?-in question turns its gaze on Swoops and an uncomfortable feeling crawls up Swoops’ spine.

 

“That’s a cat?!” he says, unable to hold back his disgust. He had come here with the idea of being supportive, but all encouragement went out the window when the gremlin unfurled itself from Kent’s lap and gracefully hopped to the floor to prance over to Swoops.

 

It stands in front of Swoops, looking up, slowly flicking its bony tail and twitching its elephantine ears.

 

It was probably the ugliest thing Swoops has ever seen, and he used to clean out the Tasmanian Devil enclosure at the zoo in high school.

 

“Aww, she likes you! don't you, Kit!”

 

“Kit?”

 

“Swoops! Meet Kit Purrson!” Kent says with the biggest grin. Swoops deadpans and slowly steps around Kit, leaving a wide berth. Kit turns and follows Swoops closely.

 

“Ugh, get it to stop”  Swoops whines, continuing to circle the couch tailed by Kit.

 

“Come here and sit” Kent says, patting the couch next to him. Swoops obliges more because he’s still so tired than anything else.

 

Kit walks past Swoops and sits on her back legs, studying the couch for a few minutes before jumping onto the cushion next to Swoops. She turns in circles for a few seconds before approaching Swoops. Swoops tries to shy away but Kent pushes him forward.

 

“Just hold her!” Kent says patting Swoops’ thigh for her in invitation. “She’s really soft!!”

 

Kit stares at Kent’s hand for a few seconds, wide eyed like a normal kitten, before tentatively placing one paw on Swoops’ thigh, followed by the others until she’s standing on Swoops’ lap.

 

Swoops can feel Kent’s face lean in closer to the side of his. The small hairs on his cheek start to tickle when he hears Kent coo at his new kitten. “There you go, girl!”

 

Swoops tries to keep his body from tensing too much at the feeling. At least he can write it off as overall uncomfortableness with Kit, which is also true.

 

Kent shifts his weight to lean further in and Swoops feels the couch dip, causing his body to fall sideways into Kent’s chest.

 

Kit comes with him, half climbing up his abs to stabilize herself. Her back leg steps near his newly awakened arousal.

 

Shit, Swoops thinks, if he doesn’t remove himself from this situation soon, then he’s going to have a hard time explaining this to Kent.

 

Kit starts to convulse and it looks like she’s going to sneeze. That's all the warning Swoops gets before his jeans are covered in sticky, liquid kitten vomit.

 

Swoops picks up Kit fast but gently and just holds her out as far as his arms can reach. Kent is on the floor in laughter before he even has a chance to hand Kent the kitten.

 

That’s not exactly the removal idea he had in mind.

 

2.

 

Kent has the best view and balcony space of all the Aces so naturally he’s volunteered to hold plenty of cookouts when it’s nice out.

 

Most of the older team members opt out to spend time with their families, but a small clique had grown within the younger members.

 

Viktor Sokolov is normally the first to arrive. He always brings a new handle of vodka with an unreadable russian label that Swoops swears is illegally imported.

 

“Swainey! I have drinks!” Viktor, nicknamed Torrid by his teammates, slaps Swoops on the back as he opens the door to Kent’s place.

 

No matter how much Swoops braces for it, Torrid’s slaps always tend to knock him off balance. He manages not to stumble this time and takes the bottle from Torrid as he makes way in.

 

Before he can shut the door, Swoops catches the blonde hair of Winona Farles, a tall slender woman, approaching with her husband Claude.

 

“Nana! Farley!” Swoops says, waving Torrid’s vodka at them. Winona’s eyes roll at her unofficial nickname as Claude lets out a little laugh at the larger than necessary bottle of spirits. They join Torrid and Kent on the patio where Torrid is lighting Kent’s grill while Kent talks his ear off about stats and tape.

 

“Hey hey hey!” Nana says, wedging herself onto the seat with Kent. “No more work talk. There are ladies present now!”

 

Kent snorts and tickles her side. “You hardly count, dear”

 

Nana wiggles and swats at Kent.

 

“Yea, right. You count more than I do!” She jabs at Kent’s side. “At least I can light a grill.”

 

This elicits a laugh from Torrid as he shuts the door to the propane tank.

 

“Nana has point! How long you have grill? How many times I light for you?!” He jabs at Kents other side.

 

“Hey, not fair! It’s not like I use it when you guys aren’t here!” Kent whines at being ganged up on, looking at Swoops for support as he comes out the sliding door.

 

Swoops just raises his eyebrows, smirking while he passes out copper mugs garnished with lime wedges to everyone.

 

“Swoops,” Claude, Kent’s left winger known as Farley, moans before taking a long swig. “You make the world’s best moscow mule.”

 

Swoops pulls his own mug up, poised to take a sip. “All credit goes to Torrid’s ‘special’ vodka.”

 

“Is not real vodka unless you light mouth on fire” Torrid cheers.

 

“Breath, Torrid. Light your breath on fire” Kent laughs cheerfully.

 

“Who else is coming?” Nana asks. Moving to sit on the porch swing with her husband.

 

“Sonny and Petra are busy but Perry said he’s going to try and make it later.” Kent answers.

 

“What time you get here, Swainer?!” Torrid asks.

 

Swoops takes a calculated sip at rise of the question. The answer was about 1am, when he and Kent stumbled home from the club, ripping at each other’s shirts.

 

“Got a little too drunk to drive home last night” he answers.

 

“I’m not surprised!” Nana laughs from where she's draping her legs over her husband. “I loved your snaps!”

 

“It was a riot!” Kent sing songs, leaving his bulky wicker chair to grab the raw meats from the kitchen. He leaves the screen door open for Kit to trot out.

 

“Krysa!*” Torrid exclaims, Kit decidedly weaves around Torrid and brushes up against Farley’s leg. Pulling her striped t-shirt vest down with the action.

 

“Ugh! KENT! You know when they say shave your cat, they mean your lady bits, not your actual cat, right?”

 

“My lady bits are also in pristine condition, I’ll have you know.” Kent replies smugly, clamping the tongs in his hand in Farley’s general direction while he places the plate of meat on the grill’s built in side table.

 

They cook and shoot the shit, while Kit trots away from anyone trying to pet her.

 

Kent flips a steak, deciding it's done and picks it up with the tongs to put on a plate. He looks at the only plate he brought out, covered in raw juice.

 

“Hey, can someone grab me a clean plate?” he asks, not looking behind him.

 

“I got it!” Nana jumps off the swing and starts to jog towards the kitchen.

 

The scraping of claws on the cement draws everyone's attention as Kit launches from where she was perched by the flower beds and runs at Nana’s moving feet.

 

Nana, hearing Kit coming, squeals and starts running faster.

 

Kit bats playfully at Nana’s achilles tendon, claws retracted.

 

Nana jumps when Kit’s paws contact her ankle. “Kit!”

 

Everyone chuckles at the display.

 

“She’s on the hunt! You’re her prey now!” Claude laughs at his wife.

 

“Ha. ha. Don’t think I won’t sic her back on you” Nana replies in good fun, palm stretched over her beating heart to will it to slow back down.

 

3.

 

Sonny’s girlfriend Petra had picked the club. Her and the other WAGs were already a few sheets to the wind when Kent shows up.

 

“Parsoooon!!” Petra slurs, throwing herself onto him. Kent bears her weight easily as she giggles. “Where’s Swoopy?!”

 

Kent holds her up by her armpits, “Visiting his family. It’s his sister’s birthday.”

 

“Why didn’t you go with him? I feel like you’re always going with him” she says, sliding into the booth Kent places her in with some of their other friends.

 

Kent didn’t want to admit it’s because a lot has changed between them since he last saw Swoop’s family. He felt like going with him would have been a declaration of something he wasn’t ready to admit yet.

 

“Naw, family stuff is boring.” he says, helping himself to the bottle of blue alcohol in the middle of the table. “Plus, no one would watch Kit.”

 

“Kitty! I love your cat, Kent!” She giggles “Cat, Kent. CatKent! CATTENT! CAT TENT!”

 

Kent laughs and eyes down Sonny. “Sonny, your girl is ready to be swept off her feet and taken to the castle!”

 

Sonny laughs and holds a hand out for Petra, who instead dives under the table searching for her shoes. “Hey, can you keep an eye on Perry? He’s on the hunt.”

 

Kent glances over where their Goalie, Crisanto Pereira, has his arm around two well dressed women, probably reliving the highlights of his saves from last night.

 

“Got it. I’ll put my wingman pants on” Kent fake-pulls up at his nice dress slacks and dance-walks towards Perry.

 

The last thing Perry remembers is his third shot with Parse before rejoining the dance floor.

 

He wakes up to the feeling of soft pressure in between his shoulder blades and an unfamiliar scent. He groans. Perry hates getting lucky when he can’t even remember it.

 

He feels a soft kneading action on the back of his neck, where his shoulders meet. He moans in appreciation, oblivious to the fact that the paws on his back are clearly too small to be human.

 

Soon he feels a tickle at his ear. He lets out another small moan and rolls his head to the side to give more room to his mystery lady. He feels a scratchy wet feeling along the side of his ear-wait. That’s not a human tongue.

 

His thought is cut short by a sharp pain in his earlobe. Perry howls and sits up fast enough to launch Kit clear off the couch they were sharing.

 

There’s snickering he didn't hear before giving way to full on laughter. Perry turns to see Kent in his boxers holding his phone up, clearly taking a video of the events.

 

“Fuck you, Parser!”

 

4.

 

It's New Year's Eve and Kent’s apartment is full of his teammates, friends and their significant others.

 

Even Torrid brought a date for the evening and by the looks of it, it's going quite smoothly.

 

Kent takes another big gulp of the Moscow mule Swoops had made for him. He wishes, not for the first time, that he could be more open about his growing relationship with Swoops. He wants more than just stolen kisses in the back hallways and suggestive glances from opposite sides of the room.

 

Nana comes over and rubs Kent’s back. “What's wrong, champ?

 

Kent leans into Winona, revelling in her strong build. She may be a model, but that doesn’t mean she isn't brimming with muscle and Kent likes strong arms. “I wish I could kiss him at midnight, ya know?”

 

Winona wraps her whole arm around his shoulders and pulls him in. “I know.” She coos.

 

“...” Kent watches Sonny tuck a stray bang behind Petra’s ear.

 

Nana leans in closer. “I say go for it. I mean everyone here knows and respects you. These are all our friends, Kent.”

 

She pauses, clearly picking up on his unasked question. “and If they can't, then they are no friends of ours and they are not welcome at this party.”

 

Kent smiles, He knows Nana would have no problem throwing down for him and he's so grateful to have her as a friend.

 

It's not like it's as taboo as it used to be either.

 

He wouldn't be the first, Jack and Bitty came out earlier this year on Jack’s birthday. Sharing a classy photo of them in montreal kissing in front of a home baked birthday pie.

 

He wouldn’t even be the second. Inspired by Jack, three other Players came out. Two Alum and a Center in Dallas.

 

Kent would be absolutely ready for it, but would Swoops?

 

He looks around for his lover, but doesn’t spot his sandy brown hair in the crowd. He frowns and excuses himself to look around.

 

Swoops isn’t on the deck, or in the kitchen. Kent starts to wonder if he left when he finds him crouched in the hallway leading to Kent’s bedroom.

 

Kent’s heart skips a beat. As he approaches, he can see over Swoop’s back that Kit is in front of him. Kent smiles, He likes when Kit and Swoops get along, though as infrequent as it is.

 

Swoops turns when he hears footsteps and sees Kent smiling down at him.

 

Swoops looks stern, almost mad. Kent’s puzzled until he sees what's in Swoop’s outstretched hand. It's a dead robin. Kent looks from Swoops, to a smug Kit, to the bird.

 

“Awww! She loves you! She brought you a present!” Kent pitches forward with laughter as Swoops stands cooly and walks to Kent’s master bathroom to dispose of the bird and scrub his hands thoroughly silent.

 

“Kent closes the door to his bedroom behind him and comes up behind Swoops to circle his waist. “Don’t be mad at her, sweetheart.”

 

Swoops doesn't break his silence, just washes his hands a second time and uses Kent’s decorative towel to dry his hands. He knows Kent hates when his decorative towels are used for anything but decoration. He found out when he tried to clean them up once after a good time.

 

Swoops steps back and heads for the bedroom door, stopping in front of a now disinterested Kit.

 

“Babe?” Kent says softly.

 

Swoops takes a breath in and as he exhales, “WHERE DO YOU EVEN GET A BIRD UP HERE?! IN THE WINTER NO LESS!”

 

Swoops just throws his hands up, staring down, addressing Kit where she was licking her new turtleneck sweater uninterested.

 

Kent is afraid Swoop’s is actually angry. It’s not the first time he’s thought about Swoops’ opinion of Kit. What if they do date? Are they dating now? What if they want to get serious and move in together?

 

Swoops is still turned away from Kent, but Kent can see his shoulders quiver and hears the small cackling coming from his lover. Is that what they are? Kent has been spending more time wondering about labels in the passing months and now with the assistance of a little alcohol, he accidently blurts out, “Are you my boyfriend?”

 

Swoops turns and looks over his shoulder, eyebrows hiked up, with an open mouthed smile.

 

“Yea, I would hope so. Are you mine?”

 

Kent, still in shock over his outburst, can only nod furiously in agreement.

  


5.

 

Swoops has never been so relieved that Kent now has one particular elevator that travels twice as fast to the penthouse floor. The elevator dings with a soft electronic sound and Swoops readjusts the cardboard box in his hands, willing his muscles to be strong. He takes the few strides into Kent’s apartment, finally able to put the box down as fast as possible without risking damage to its contents.

 

“That’s the last one” he states as he closes the front door behind him.

 

Kent has already moved the handful of other boxes to the rooms written on their sides.

 

“Where does this one go?” Kent asks, studying all sides. This one was unmarked.

 

“It’s, um, I’m not sure.” Swoops is shifting his weight back and forth, his arms still screaming from the weight of the box. “It doesn’t have to go anywhere. I can always take it back to my house.”

 

Kent lets out a puff of air through his smile. “Well, tell me what it is before you try to haul it back downstairs?”

 

When it’s clear Swoops isn’t going to answer, Kent bends down and pulls the clear packing tape off the box’s top seam. His jaw drops at the sight of it’s contents. “Swoops...is this…?”

 

“Yea.” Swoops says, still focusing as hard as he can on the knot in the wood floor, he feels the heat in his ears from embarrassment.

 

Kent’s shuffling alerts Swoops before he suddenly has 190 lbs of hockey player in his arms. Swoops instinctively get his hands under his boyfriend’s ass before they both fall down while Kent, apparently uncaring of their vertigo, is kissing him passionately. Swoops moves the party to the couch where he sits down and Kent readjusts to be straddling his lap.

 

They break apart and Kent envelopes Swoops in a hug. “It's the best move-in present I could never have asked for.”

 

“I love you, Swain.”  Kent doesn't let go, he hugs harder hiding his face in Swoop’s neck. “Welcome to our home.”

 

Swoops runs his hands up Kent’s sides and strokes the back of his neck. “I love you too, Kent.”

 

Their little moment is ruined by the sound of insistent scratching on the door to the bathroom where they had kept Kit while the front door was open.

 

Kent unwillingly breaks away and goes to open the bathroom door. Little paws shoot out from under the door to paw at Kent’s toes until the door cracks open enough for Kit to dash out to survey any changes to her kingdom.

 

“Um” Swoops starts, noticing the shredded wood on the bottom of the door. “Maybe next time we put her in her carrier?”

 

Kent sighs, taking in the damage. “You can try, but she’ll fight you the whole way in.”

  


+1

 

Swoops dropped himself bonelessly into the plush sectional of what was now his and Kent’s penthouse suite. Flying always takes a lot out of him and this flight was particularly brutal on him both mentally and physically.

 

On top of the long red eye, the PR intern picked him up and took him straight to the office where he had long serious talks with the Ace’s managers and media handlers. Sure it had been a hit out of left field, sure they both play for the same team and sure it will stir up a ton of publicity both good and bad, but Swoops still swears if he went back in time he’d do it all the same.

 

The TV was tuned into the entertainment channel’s nightly gossip news show. He was waiting to see their story break, glad Kent was still in NY with his mother where he can be sheltered from all this, at least for a day. Swoops wishes he could give him much more than one day away from all this.

 

The segment on the Kardashian’s latest drama was wrapping up and the well dressed anchorman turned his attention on the exclusive paparazzi photos Swoops still hasn’t seen himself.

 

The first one was Swoops, Kent and Kent’s mother in the driveway of Kent’s new upstate New York house. He had just closed on the deal was in the middle of surprising his mom with the keys. Ok, nothing big happening here, says the reporter as they set up the story.

 

The second one is Kent and Swoops holding hands on the nearby private beach. They had been so engrossed in the moment and each other that it hadn’t occured to them that someone would ignore the “no tresspassing” signs and hop the fence to spy on them.

 

The next one was the real showstopper. It showed Swoops down on one knee by the waterfront, Kent’s face hidden. It was less than 24 hours ago, but Swoops already feels like it was a different lifetime. His new life began when Kent said “Of course, you fucking moron.”

 

The next photo made Swoops snort into his craft beer. It was Kent tackling him onto the sand. Swoops scratched at his hair, sending sand granules falling down his shoulders. He wishes he didn’t have to take a shower soon.

 

The voice-over was nothing but supportive but that wasn’t what Swoops was worried about. He was worried about how spontaneous the proposal was. How they hadn’t told the team about them or their sexualities. How the locker room tomorrow morning could go infinite ways. Swoops felt the anxiety crawl back up his shoulders, pulling them taut like marionette strings.

 

He was so lost in thought, Swoops didn’t notice that Kit had joined him on the couch and was now climbing up into his lap and making herself comfortable. Swoops was finally pulled out of his mini freak out by the soft vibration he could feel against his abs. Kit was curled in on herself, purring quietly. Swoops let out a large breath, stroking down Kit’s bare spine.

 

Everything was going to be ok. Even if they had to endure at work, they had each other and a wonderful life outside of hockey. Kit was a reminder of that.

**Author's Note:**

> Krysa means Rat/Rodent in russian
> 
> Hi! Hope you loved it! please tell me your feelings (I love feelings)
> 
> Just a note, I know #5 is a little confusing about the situational context but Swoops is indeed moving into Kent's penthouse with him. They are also keeping Swoop's house outside of town since it's already paid off and it's nice to have a place away from the lights sometimes.


End file.
